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Memebrs of YIP, tcktck Sweden and members of the public participated in the action

Where to start?

After taking part in further climate actions, including the 350 event and then an Interactive Dance For The Climate in Stockholm, the theme of climate change within much of the group has developed further as a theme in the run up to the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen- especially a vitally important issue for me.

One thing I have taken away from every action we participated on is a sense of hope.

Not from politicians or lobbyist, not from the city councillors or journalists, but from the people that joined us, the people that participated and the public walking by that were forced to stop and think, absorb and contemplate what was happening and why. It is a hope in the solidarity and power of the people on this planet that is emerging and manifesting as something far more tangible.
Many think that gone are the days that people really stood up and made a difference, for example during the Apartheid and in the civil rights movements and other mass civil society mobilizations.
But in the last two days I have attended a large conference in Stockholm; looking at the relationship between Human Rights and Climate Change, and how more and more they are becoming interlinked issues, that over time can no longer be considered separate. It was at this conference that on one of the seminars I attended, someone raised the question “Do we as civil society have any power over the politicians decisions at COP15”, one of the panelists members from a Swedish environmental group gave a very brief answer that has stuck with me and has remained at the back of my mind since- an answer that I expect to continue to resonate in me for quite a while; the answer being “People have always had ultimate power. We just need to realise it once more”.

I think this is a huge concept that people need to realise and re-imagine again, in many forms.
Lets do it together, lets create the future world we want to live in together!